Suzu Creative
Art & Language – Where Magic Happens.
Bottoms Up!
As we enter our 384th week in the global pandemic of 2020, certain things have become the norm:
- Calculating on my fingers the last time I showered, then factoring in the 6-foot buffer before venturing out in public.
- Practicing “eye smiling” in the mirror with my mask on so I don’t make other shoppers uncomfortable while waiting for my turn in the vodka aisle.
- Obsessing over The Numbers every day and pretending they will magically change things back to the way they were pre-March.
Meanwhile, I was listening to a favorite book for an online book club – and hoping to spark my creative embers. It was Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and truly, she could read tax codes and I’d be soothed and reassured of a positive outcome to all of this… *gestures at the world*
Two items she touches on in Big Magic are the basis of my little story today.
The first time I read it I was captivated by Liz’s mining of literary gold as a bartender. I myself have often mentally bookmarked someone’s interesting story or snippet of conversation for future exploration. The day after my mom died I woke up drained and sad, but I announced to anyone who would listen that I would now go be a bartender as well, in order to invigorate my writing career.
Well, if you received this email you know I started a business instead.
Another chapter tells the story of a writer who was creatively constipated after a massive failure, so he distracted himself by painting his children’s bicycles with hundreds of stars. And then their friends’ bikes. And before he knew it, his virtual bowels moved and he could return to his own work.
Flash forward two years and that guy’s story felt very relevant with a pandemic sucking the life out of our usual passions. However the internet has also been full of people resurrecting past hobbies, learning new skills, and painting stars in their own way. Long story long, I was likewise inspired to try something creatively different that didn’t necessarily fall under the umbrella of art or writing.
I set up bar at my own house and made drinks.
As my hobby has developed, I’ve since discovered the disarming Quinn Cumming – former child actor, current writer and cocktail purveyor – who is sharing her own quarantine gig for a good cause every week on Zoom. And for that book club I crafted a pretty drink for the group dubbed Big Magic. The recipe is below if you’re so inclined.
You probably won’t find me behind or AT a bar any time soon (Hello! Have you seen The Numbers??!) but it has spawned a fun outlet to help me feel less frustrated and resentful over my inability to complete a novel or two with all this down time. I’ll drink to that!
Let me know what hobbies, skills or diversions you’ve embraced this year. Stay safe and be well. xo
Suzu Creative 
Hmmm…. A Big Magic drink sounds good about now! I think you may have forgotten to include the recipe. And because of that, now I really want it!!!! Lol!
Great post! Clever and funny, yet meaningful. Nice combo!
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Oops! Thanks for the heads up. It’s been added in case someone wants to make their own. 🙂
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